Too Good Not to Share*

If you’re someone who spends time traveling for work or pleasure, this week’s Too Good Not to Share is for you. Overnight accommodations on the road can vary widely in their functionality when it comes to charging our electronic devices. Newer hotels often have a USB port on or near  the nightstand, but older hotels or bed and breakfast places frequently have inconvenient outlets to plug a charger into. My solution is to pack my own desktop power strip on every trip. The difference between a desktop strip and a typical power strip is that the desktop models are designed to easily remain flat on a table top, usually being roughly a square shape, unlike the strip that’s hidden behind the couch.

Most recently it came in handy when we stayed at a hotel that had once been a house. The only outlet near my side of the bed was behind the mattress on the wall under the headboard. Running a charging cable from there to the bedside table would not have left much cord to even be able to pick up the phone to check the time while it was charging. Once we plugged in the desktop power strip, though, it had plenty of length with its own cord to get to the table. Plugging my phone and tablet into the desktop strip was a breeze from that point, and I had full use of the length of the charging cable if I needed to be on a device. I pack a desktop power strip wherever we go, now — especially back home to the house I grew up in which was built in the 1950’s and has only one outlet in each bedroom.

*We went on our first cruise recently, where I learned that if you bring a power strip it cannot have surge protection. Keep that in mind as you shop for any power strip you intend to travel with. The one I have is pictured above and complies with cruise regulations. It’s called One Beat and it came with three outlets, four high speed USB ports, a flat wall plug, and a flexible flat braided cord. I got it at a giant online retailer for about $20.

*Too Good Not to Share posts are just because I love to share things that have made a difference in my life, with hope they may make a difference in someone else’s. I am not compensated in any way.